THE PARTRIDGE. 31 



Affection and sagacity of the parents. 



runs off first with a peculiar cry of distress; he 

 stops at the distance of thirty or forty paces, and 

 frequently returns several times towards the dog, 

 clapping his wings; with such courage does pa- 

 ternal affection inspire even the most timid of 

 animals. He then flies, or rather runs, heavily 

 along the ground, dragging his wings, as if to al- 

 lure the enemy by the hope of an easy prey, mak- 

 ing off fast enough to avoid being taken, and yet 

 so slow as not to discourage his pursuer till he 

 has at length decoyed him to a considerable dis- 

 tance from the cove}^. The female flies away to a 

 greater distance, and in a different direction, but 

 immediately returns, running along the ground 

 and finds her brood squatted among the grasa 

 and leaves. Calling them hastily together, she 

 leads them, unperceived by the sportsman, to a 

 great distance, before the dog lias time to return 

 from the pursuit of the male. 



This bird flourishes best in cultivated coun- 

 tries, living principally on the labors of the hus- 

 bandman : the extremes of heat and cold, are un- 

 favourable to its propagation. Mr. White, who 

 gives an instance of its instinctive sagacity, in- 

 forms us that " a partridge came out of a ditch, 

 and ran along shivering witrrher wings and crying 

 out as if wounded and unable to get from us. 

 While the dam feigned this distress, a boy who 

 attended me, saw the brood, which was small 

 and unable to fly, run for shelter into an old fox's 

 bole, under the bank," Mr. Markwick also re- 



